Tombs of the Kings, Paphos Tombs of the Kings is an ancient necropoliscontaining numerous large tombs dating from the 4th century BCE to the 3rd century AD. The name is something of a misnomer as no kings are thought to have been buried here. The name, rather, refers to the magnificence of the tombs, which were the burial places of wealthy senior government officials and aristocrats.

Body armor of the future could be made of human hair Here’s something to think about next time you’re in the shower reaching for the shampoo: the hair on your head is so strong and stretchy that engineers studying it say what they’re learning could help them develop new materials, possibly even for body armor.

Is the multiverse physics, philosophy, or something else entirely? The idea of the multiverse — or the theoretical possibility of infinite parallel universes–straddles a strange world between science fiction and a plausible hypothesis. Though scientists have no direct evidence for the multiverse’s existence, some theoretical models suggest the multiverse could solve some key riddles in physics, such as why the parameters of our universe, including the strength of the the electromagnetic force between particles and the value of the cosmological constant, have values that are exactly in the small range required for life to exist. Perhaps, some scientists posit in one version of the multiverse theory, there are billions of other universes out there with all different possible values of these parameters—ours just happens to be the one with the right values for life.

Scott Lynch is pretty sure the fourth Gentleman Bastard book, The Thorn of Emberlain, will land in 2017. Patrick Rothfuss… Well, Patrick is making no such promises. Yet hope springs eternal for fans of epic science fiction and fantasy writers like those three and others who release their books only when they’re finished, and not necessarily when readers want or expect them (i.e. right now). No amount of praying, begging, sobbing, or goat sacrifices can make the books we’re craving come out any sooner. The night is long and full of delayed publication dates.

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Delayed, Classic Character Re-CastStar Trek: Discovery, CBS’s new series planned for its streaming All Access app, has been delayed again. After being announced to debut this month, the series was pushed back to a May premiere. CBS now says the premiere date is “flexible.”

Scientists studying the splendour of Saturn’s rings are hoping soon to get a resolved picture of an embedded object they know exists but cannot quite see.

Into the Badlands Season 2 – New Trailer and Premiere Date AnnouncedInto the Badlands, in a mere six-episode first season, introduced audiences to a feudal dystopian world ruled by “Barons,” who each have a territory and a military force and rule with an iron hand. Technology is scant, resources (which include opium, crude oil) are precious, and one’s fists — or perhaps swords — do most of the talking. Daniel Wu’s Sunny, the primary protagonist, started as a “Clipper” — a soldier/enforcer — for his Baron, the manipulative and deadly Quinn, but, for reasons we won’t spoil, he has fled the nest by the end of season one. The primary force that sent Sunny’s life askew was the appearance of MK (Aramis Knight), who seems to have a mysterious power where he becomes possessed and incomparably deadly when he loses control. Sunny took MK under his wing, which put him in the position of protecting MK from not only his own Baron, Quinn, but the Baron called “The Widow,” and her daughter Tilda, who think MK is the key to achieving dominance for her faction.

Cuexcomate Standing a diminutive 43 feet tall, Cuexcomate is commonly known as the world’s smallest volcano. However it’s technically it’s not a volcano, but a geyser. The little mountain was allegedly born out of an eruption from the most famous volcano in Mexico, the Popocatépetl or “Popo.” Either way, it’s one of the cutest and most formidable attractions in the colonial city of Puebla.

If you are worried about what’s in store this time, then you’re not alone. Psychologists have even come up with a word for how you’re feeling – paraskavedekatriaphobia, or fear of Friday the 13th.

Astronomers: Multiple Cosmic Collisions May Have Created Our Moon It looks so tranquil up there. So still. But we know space is neither tranquil nor still. Our own Moon is no exception. New research suggests the Moon was the product of some very, very violent moshing: Around 4.5 billion years ago, a rowdy gang of stellar objects smashed into our young planet, creating the debris that would one day become the Moon. The astronomers published their report in the journal Nature Geoscience.

That’s No Alien Megastructure, It’s a Star Consuming a Planet Last year Tabetha Boyajian, an astronomer now working at Louisiana State University, published a paper about a star that had something strange blocking its light. The Kepler telescope had captured the star’s light in a pattern of flux that had no obvious explanation; Boyajian looked for one until she convinced herself that the star was “truly something that is unique,” she told Atlas Obscura.

Logan Director Shares Glimpse at Scoring Session In a year packed to the brim with exciting and unique superhero movies, it’s almost unexpected that the first film of the bunch to make its debut in 2017, is also one of, if not the, most anticipated out of them all. Director James Mangold’s Logan has garnered the kind of hype that most movie studios would pay a lot of money for, and the truly magnificent part of it all, is that the film has done it by releasing just one theatrical trailer, and a whole lot of moody, gorgeous images. Known widely for being Hugh Jackman’s last film as Logan/Wolverine, Logan‘s shaping up to be the somber, dramatic character piece that Jackman’s performance deserves to have as a send-off; though not many likely thought would something like it would actually get made.

How Rogue One Brought Back Peter Cushing As Grand Moff Tarkin Through the magic of motion-capture technology, the 1977 Peter Cushing from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was brought back to life in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Though it was only featuring the likeness of Cushing, who died in 1994, another actor was brought in to “act” as Imperial Grand Moff Tarkin’s stand-in. Enter: Guy Henry, best known for his work on the BBC and in classical theater, who would inhabit the boots (so to speak) of Cushing during the duration of his screentime in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

The Heart of What Was Lost by Tad Williams The Storm King has been defeated, his army of Norns driven off and peace returned to the lands of Osten Ard. King Seoman and Queen Miriamele have taken the throne in the Hayholt and a new age of peace beckons. But for Duke Isgrimnur of Rimmersgard the war is not entirely over. Along with the famed warrior Sludig, Isgrimnur has been given command of an army with orders to pursue the fleeing Norns back to Stormspike and ensure they are destroyed forever.

HBO’s ‘The Young Pope’ hasn’t got a prayer As quirky and eccentric as its title character, “The Young Pope” is an odd duck, starring Jude Law as the first American pontiff. If the goal is to join the ranks of prestige HBO dramas, this 10-part show hasn’t got a prayer.

The Parallels Between Shakespeare and George R. R. Martin “There is nothing new under the sun.” Idiom or parable, regardless of how you would characterize it, it’s most certainly widely accepted – and oft lamented – wisdom. In a period where it seems as if our modes of entertainment are increasingly full of recycled ideas, remakes and re-imaginings, the phrase has taken on a sour note. It is shorthand for our collective desire for something new, something original. But let’s look at the larger truth: Stories – and the writers who create them – are not birthed in a vacuum. Fiction, no matter its form, is largely the melding of inspiration from various sources.

George Lucas has selected L.A. over San Francisco to be home to his $1 billion museum, with the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art set to feature pieces from the filmmaker’s personal collection, including memorabilia from Star Wars and other films, vintage photographs and an impressive selection of traditional paintings. The museum is eyeing a May 4, 2020 launch, according to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – Casting, Trailer, Story Details & Everything to Know Shared universes in. Hence, everyone in Hollywood is trying to crack the code of doing what Marvel did but with (ahem) properties that are not so dependent on copyrights. Thus entering into the fray is Warner Brothers with their long-gestating King Arthur adaptation. Moved around more than a few times, this previously slated-for-summer-2016 film was once caleld “Knights of the Round Table: King Arthur,” seemingly promising (or threatening) that every one of them, and probably Guinevere too, would get a spin-off down the road. But now, King Arthur: The Legend of the Swordis upon us and looks very Guy Ritchie.

Technological Singularity (and) The Westworld Finale: An ExaminationThese violent delights have violent ends. Never forget that. Shakespeare quote from Romeo and Juliet, which sort of tells you all you need to know about how this show’s first season was going to play out. It is the first thing you learned about the show and the last. But don’t let me get ahead of myself. First and foremost, if you have not watched HBO’s neo-insta-classic Westworld, stop reading now. This article will go into detail about the finale of the show, as well as some of the major issues and themes that have run throughout the stellar first season. I don’t want to spoil anything for new fans so if you have not seen the whole season, please go watch the rest of it and then come read this piece. For those of you sticking around, wow, huh? Westworld. That might have been one of the strongest, most engrossing first seasons I have seen in awhile (well, Preacher was pretty f*cking fantastic, too, TBH). A show dealing with so many themes and running stories, you almost need to take notes to follow it. But the main theme on the show is that of technological singularity and A.I. Before I tackle the show, let me get the science shit out of the way with a quick 101 in tech singularity (which most of you probably know about anyway, but some may not).

96 Books Sci-Fi & Fantasy Editors Can’t Wait for You to Read in 2017 We don’t know about you, but there are still dozens of 2016 books on our teetering mountain of books we really, really want to read, provided we manage to live long enough. Which is why we approach the massive post below with equal parts excitement and trepidation. We asked sci-fi and fantasy editors from all the major publishing houses to share with us the books they are most excited to release into the wild in 2017. Let us just say, these editors are very excited—so excited, the list quickly ballooned to nearly 100 books. That’s 100 books that we’re really excited about too, even if the knowledge that we can’t possibly hope to read every one of them makes us lament, again, our pesky mortality.

Here’s some proof: Reddit’s Photshop Battles decided to duke it out with a photo of New York Rangers fan and actress Margot Robbie going nuts at a game:

52 Places to Go in 2017 There are thousands of getaways to explore this year. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Fact-Checking Won’t Save Us From Fake News We’ve used this phrase so many times in the past two months that it’s almost lost meaning — partly because it can mean so many different things. Depending on who you talk to, “fake news” may refer to satirical news, hoaxes, news that’s clumsily framed or outright wrong, propaganda, lies destined for viral clicks and advertising dollars, politically motivated half-truths, and more.

The lost sounds of Stonehenge Thomas Hardy said it had a strange “musical hum”. Tess of the d’Urvbervilles ends at Stonehenge and features the “sound”. Modern-day druids also say they experience something special when they gather at Stonehenge and play instruments within the stone circle.

Rumourmill: Amazon developing the WHEEL OF TIME TV show? Back in April 2016, the Robert Jordan Estate (aka the Bandersnatch Group) confirmedthat a Wheel of Time TV series was in development with a major studio and that this would be subsequently confirmed by the studio. However, since then there has been radio silence on the subject, save a single comment that the project was still going on and that announcements should still be forthcoming.

Marvel Called The Rise Of Trump (Nearly 10 Years Ago) Marvel Comics regularly publishes stories about unfrozen nonagenarians who punch magic Nazis, purple space gods who eat planets, and shit-talking, jetpack-wearing, gun-toting raccoons. But few of those tales were as implausible as 2008’s Dark Reign. This year-long storyline followed Norman Osborn — aka the Green Goblin, one of the biggest villains in comics — attaining an important government role against all logic, reason, and sanity. Ha ha, yeah, as if anything like that could ever happen.

Saturn’s Cassini orbiter has less than a year left in its mission, so it’s making the best use of the time it has left. It recently took some quality photos of Saturn’s moon Titan.

Titan is Saturn’s largest moon, and the second largest moon in the solar system. Titan is unique in that it has an atmosphere and surface liquid, like the Earth. However, Titan’s liquid lakes are made of methane, and the moon’s temperature is almost 300 degrees below zero.

WGA Awards: How Did ‘Deadpool’ Get a Nomination and What Does It Mean For the Oscars? The Writers Guild of America on Wednesday announced the nominees for its annual WGA Awards. Most of the usual suspects were nominated — La La Land, Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea, Hell or High Water and Loving, along with Arrival, Fences, Hidden Figures and Nocturnal Animals. But not all of them were nominated in the category in which you’d expect. And rather than competing against films like Hacksaw Ridge, Silence,Lion or The Lobster, they instead found themselves in the company of the comic book adaptation Deadpool, about as much of a popcorn movie as one could imagine.

Han Solo Meeting Brings Harrison Ford & Alden Ehrenreich Together When the Young Indiana Jones TV show was on the air, many fans were surprised to see Harrison Ford arrive in the flesh to bookend an episode. Many have wondered if the old space pirate might do the same in 2018’s Han Solo: A Star Wars Story. It’s unlikely that he’ll turn up on screen, as the movie attempts to distance itself from the lore already established, introducing a new actor in the role. But that doesn’t mean Harrison Ford isn’t involved on some level.

Forget the Shovel, Ancient Finds Now Made From Space Parcak developed a way to process satellite images with infrared in order to identify chemical changes in the soil caused by the activity of ancient civilizations. She quickly found patterns where there were previously none. With this technique, she located the long-ago path of the Nile and the probable location of this important city, which was the capitol of Egypt for 400 years during its important middle kingdom.

No, Scientists Have Not Found a ‘New Organ’ The human body is an amazing and expansive place, full of strange twists and turns. It’s likely we’ll never discover all its secrets, but we do have a pretty solid grasp on the major parts. So even though new research has convincingly made the case for reclassifying the mesentery—a folded membrane that connects your intestines to the wall of your abdominal cavity and keeps everything snugly in place—as a single, continuous organ, scientists have not, as some headlines proclaim, discovered a “brand-new organ.”

STAR WARS RING THEORY OFFERS A WHOLE NEW WAY TO VIEW THE PREQUELS The Star Wars Ring Theory isn’t new: it’s been around for a couple of years, but it’s been on our minds since seeing Rogue One, the first real connection between the prequels and the original trilogy (though a small handful of us are still in the Snoke = Darth Plagueis Club). For two years Mike Klimo put together his massive and fascinating essay arguing that George Lucas was connecting all six films into something far more complex than we might have thought, by using an old technique found in ancient stories called ring composition.

Why Do We Make New Year’s Resolutions? Every time a new year rolls around, people set out to better themselves. They promise they will lose weight, find a new job, or maybe even take that vacation they’ve always talked about. But why do we make these promises to ourselves, and where did this tradition come from? Why does this tradition live on when so many people fail to keep the resolutions they make? Well, we can start by blaming the ancient Babylonians.

Ridley Scott Is Not a Fan of Superhero Movies, Is “Concerned” for the Future of Cinema At the age of 79, Ridley Scott is still going strong. After completing his last film, 2015’s The Martian, he wasted no time diving right into the upcoming Alien: Covenant. But although Scott continues to like making movies, it seems he doesn’t have much use for modern moviemaking trends. The director admitted that he is “concerned” about the future of cinema — expressing a particular distaste for superhero films, which he says have “no story.”

5 mind-blowing fan theories about the new season of ‘Sherlock’ After years of anticipation, Sherlock Season 4 finally premiered Sunday night on PBS and it’s a toss up as to whether or not it was worth the wait. While the episode ended with a huge and shocking twist, it was a mess of fan service, recycled jokes, convoluted plot points and ret-con that has fans scratching their heads, wondering where this next season is headed.

Watch A Meteor Fly Through The Erupting Turrialba Volcano Over the last few days, the Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica has shown increased activity, erupting several times and spewing smoke and ash into the sky. This is exciting (and scary) for those who live in the surrounding areas and people watching around the world. But nature decided to up the ante–on Thursday, a nearby observatory captured a video of a meteor streaking through the bubbling smoke of the volcano.

How Transformers 5 Connects to the Bumblebee Spin-Off Movie While the producer wouldn’t offer any specifics, he did confirm that Transformers: The Last Knight, which hits theaters on June 23, 2017, will offer some connections to the upcoming Bumblebee spin-off, although don’t expect there to be a lot of references to this project.

HOW 2017 WILL BE BETTER THAN 2016! Finally, 2017 is here and we can put 2016 in the rear view mirror as we head into the future! There are plenty of reasons that we won’t miss that garbage fire of a year, but there’s also a lot of things coming up in 2017 that could make the next 12 months worth looking forward to.

Take a Virtual Ride in the Cockpit on the F-4 Phantom’s Retirement Flight We have been talking about it all year—the F-4 Phantom’s long awaited retirement from the Pentagon’s active inventory. The QF-4s of the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron made a triumphant round of visits to air showsacross the US this year, giving the American people one last chance to glimpse the “Bent Wing Wonder” in action.

State of the Sanderson 2016 These posts run long and are extensive essays that go over what I did during the year, updating you all on the projects I’ve been working on, then doing a rundown of projects that I’m planning.How the Avengers Killed the Justice LeagueI’m in love with the Marvel movieverse. I love many of the characters and the franchises. But I think it’s time we stop holding up The Avengers as the textbook example of how to make the perfect superhero team movie.

Because, you know. That’s what killed the Justice League.

What, you say, it’s not dead yet? It won’t even be released until next year? Yeah.

16 science fiction and fantasy novels you don’t want to miss in January I always like January for this reason: it’s a good time to take a look at the rest of the year, to see just what’s coming up that we should be getting excited for. We’ll have a broad 2017 book forecast in a couple of days, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t start off the new year by taking a look at what’s coming out this month. So clear out your bookshelves or your bedside table, because there’s a lot to make room for.

What makes a planet a planet? Last year, the debate over Pluto’s planet status temporarily resurfaced when NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew by the tiny world at the edge of the Solar System. Once considered the ninth planet, Pluto was famously demoted a decade ago to a dwarf planet — a new kind of classification for objects in our cosmic neighborhood. It was a change that some didn’t take very well, and 10 years later, a few still believe that Pluto’s status should never have been altered.

A new YouTube video on top of the site’s “trending” list features an adorable kid who accidentally causes Amazon’s virtual assistant to spew off some dirty porn-related phrases.

How to get around territorial rights if you live in a different country Have you ever wanted to watch some exclusive content on a website and got that annoying “This material is not available in your region” message? Have you ever been excited about a Kindle deal and had the rug pulled from under your feet when you found out that the price you saw on Reddit or a message board doesn’t apply to you? Of course you have! And it sucks, right?

NASA Wants to Make a Mobile Water Factory on the Moon Water has long been the limiting factor for humans in space. But now, NASA is developing a rover that can make water on the Moon. Such a capability will be necessary for any serious attempt at the permanent settlement of Mars, or any other long-term space voyage. If successful, it will inaugurate a new, critical area in space exploration, where resources from other worlds can be harnessed and used.

Michael Livingston, The Gates of Hell, and Writing Secret Historical Fantasy For those who don’t know me, in my day-job I’m a professor of medieval matters at The Citadel, where among other things I do a lot of research on the military history of the Middle Ages. In my spare time, though, I write fiction. My first novel came out last year from Tor Books: The Shards of Heaven, a historical fantasy set against the war between the future Caesar Augustus and the famed lovers Mark Antony and Cleopatra.

A Promising Spot for Life on Mars As NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity makes its way up the central peak of Gale Crater, it has been gathering evidence from ancient lake beds and long ago groundwater environments that are promising for life.

Carrie Fisher is Dead: She Was My Hero I had really hoped I wouldn’t have to write this, but it is my duty to report that Carrie Fisher died this morning. She had been hospitalized Friday after suffering a massive heart attack in flight to Los Angeles.

2016 Has Been A Golden Year For Strategy Games As you may have noticed from being on the internet or talking to other human beings, 2016 has been a bit of a shitshow. But if there’s one piece of solace to be found in the flaming wreckage of this orbital rotation, it’s been the quality of its video games. Strategy ones in particular.

Is Netflix secretly trolling ‘Game of Thrones’ fans? Netflix has a new show out called ‘Medici: Masters of Florence, and coincidentally, two of the actors also starred in ‘Game of Thrones.; Richard Madden and David Bradley, who play Robb Stark and Walder Frey respectively in the HBO show.

That wouldn’t ordinarily cause much of an issue, except that in the HBO show Frey brutally killed Stark and his pregnant wife after Robb betrayed an oath. Now we have to watch them be friends in ‘Medici,’ and not just that: They’re such close allies that at one point, Bradley actually kisses Madden on the head.

Ben Affleck Says Batman Has No Script, Still Not a Sure Thing The Guardian caught up with Ben Affleck, who is promoting his new acting and directing effort, Warner Bros.’ Live By Night, which is currently in theaters in limited release. Last month the actor/director revealed that he’s finishing up the script and the project is on track to start filming this spring. However…

The Wheel of Time: English to Old Tongue Dictionary Many of you who have The Wheel of Time Companion have appreciated the section containing the Old Tongue-to-English dictionary, but have asked if it would be possible to receive an English-to-Old Tongue dictionary. Wait no more. We have worked on the new dictionary in our spare time over the past few months, and it is now complete.

There’s Lost, with the shared Bad Robot DNA and the elaborate character-centric mysteries. There’s Person of Interest, yet another Bad Robot show, a machine-minded drama from the mind of Jonathan Nolan, one of the co-creators responsible for Westworld. There’s Battlestar Galactica, with the shared focus on mechanical entities searching for sovereignty and the way history repeats itself. (The decades-spanning “loops” of Westworld, especially the ones surrounding Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores, are effectively the new “all of this has happened before, all of this will happen again.”) Really, the list goes on.

Deadpool and Wolverine May Still Reunite, Just Not in Logan Earlier this week, a juicy rumor surfaced that Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds recently shot a brief cameo appearance in a post-credit scene for the upcoming Logan, which has been confirmed multiple times as the final Wolverine movie for star Hugh Jackman